- Joined
- Jul 12, 2015
http://www.oldsouthantiques.com/os6210p1.htm
The foot officer's sword shown here is marked MOSHELL; Jacob H. Moshell was a resident of Columbus, Georgia, the county seat of Muskogee County, Georgia. An article in the June 20, 1861 edition of the Richmond Dispatch quotes from an article in the Columbus Sun,"We paid visits today to the shop of Mr. Moshell, of this city, to witness the operande (sic) of sword tempering, which is now an "institution" of Columbus. Mr. M. has engaged the services of a superior work man from Tennessee, who, we believe, was engaged in the service of that State in some capacity, and whose blades were subjected to a test established by a board of competent military men. The same test is applied to the blades turned out in Mr. Moshell's shop…Mr. M. informs us that about one hundred or more can be tempered in a a day, and one of two hundred finished blades received and ready for the final touch are turned out in a week. He is furnishing blades for the establishment of Mr. DeWitt, and challenges the Confederacy to turn out superior ones. We learn that the supply of swords since the manufacture of them has been commenced here is scarcely equal to the demand". A. H. DeWitt swords are not normally marked by J. H. Moshell so it is unclear if this was made for DeWitt or if Jacob Moshell made it on his own hook, its scarcity would indicate the latter. Either way, it is the only known sword to be marked by J. H. Moshell.
Five days previous to this article running Jesse Hodges Sikes, a 35 year old Columbus native, enlisted in the Muscogee Rifles as Second Lieutenant. The Muscogee Rifles would become Company E, 12th Georgia Infantry. The Columbus paper noted under the heading ""Muscogee Rifles": On the 18th of June, the "Muscogee Rifles," Capt. T. B. Scott, making the tenth company, left Columbus for the Confederate service. This company had 63 men in its ranks when it left, and Lieut. Sikes left in a few days afterwards with some privates unavoidably detained. The company comprised many young men of promise and standing."
After organizing, the unit was assigned to Brigadier General Henry R. Jackson's command and shared in Lee's Cheat Mountain Campaign. Sikes health failed him and he was furloughed from Harrisonburg, Virginia. His health not improving, he resigned the following spring. Not content to sit at home, he raised a company of partisan rangers known as Captain J. H. Sikes' Company Partisan Rangers and reentered the service in the 7thConfederate States Cavalry. Though his service with the Muscogee Rifles had been short, the men apparently thought very highly of Sikes, so much so that they presented him with this A. H. DeWitt sword and had the presentation engraved on the top scabbard mount. It reads, Capt. S.H. Sikes Muskogee Rifles Georgia, in three lines.
When Sikes was with the Rifles he was a Second Lieutenant, so this had to have been presented on his resignation from the Rifles with an eye to reentering as Captain of Cavalry in the Seventh CSA Partisan Rangers where he commanded Company
The foot officer's sword shown here is marked MOSHELL; Jacob H. Moshell was a resident of Columbus, Georgia, the county seat of Muskogee County, Georgia. An article in the June 20, 1861 edition of the Richmond Dispatch quotes from an article in the Columbus Sun,"We paid visits today to the shop of Mr. Moshell, of this city, to witness the operande (sic) of sword tempering, which is now an "institution" of Columbus. Mr. M. has engaged the services of a superior work man from Tennessee, who, we believe, was engaged in the service of that State in some capacity, and whose blades were subjected to a test established by a board of competent military men. The same test is applied to the blades turned out in Mr. Moshell's shop…Mr. M. informs us that about one hundred or more can be tempered in a a day, and one of two hundred finished blades received and ready for the final touch are turned out in a week. He is furnishing blades for the establishment of Mr. DeWitt, and challenges the Confederacy to turn out superior ones. We learn that the supply of swords since the manufacture of them has been commenced here is scarcely equal to the demand". A. H. DeWitt swords are not normally marked by J. H. Moshell so it is unclear if this was made for DeWitt or if Jacob Moshell made it on his own hook, its scarcity would indicate the latter. Either way, it is the only known sword to be marked by J. H. Moshell.
Five days previous to this article running Jesse Hodges Sikes, a 35 year old Columbus native, enlisted in the Muscogee Rifles as Second Lieutenant. The Muscogee Rifles would become Company E, 12th Georgia Infantry. The Columbus paper noted under the heading ""Muscogee Rifles": On the 18th of June, the "Muscogee Rifles," Capt. T. B. Scott, making the tenth company, left Columbus for the Confederate service. This company had 63 men in its ranks when it left, and Lieut. Sikes left in a few days afterwards with some privates unavoidably detained. The company comprised many young men of promise and standing."
After organizing, the unit was assigned to Brigadier General Henry R. Jackson's command and shared in Lee's Cheat Mountain Campaign. Sikes health failed him and he was furloughed from Harrisonburg, Virginia. His health not improving, he resigned the following spring. Not content to sit at home, he raised a company of partisan rangers known as Captain J. H. Sikes' Company Partisan Rangers and reentered the service in the 7thConfederate States Cavalry. Though his service with the Muscogee Rifles had been short, the men apparently thought very highly of Sikes, so much so that they presented him with this A. H. DeWitt sword and had the presentation engraved on the top scabbard mount. It reads, Capt. S.H. Sikes Muskogee Rifles Georgia, in three lines.
When Sikes was with the Rifles he was a Second Lieutenant, so this had to have been presented on his resignation from the Rifles with an eye to reentering as Captain of Cavalry in the Seventh CSA Partisan Rangers where he commanded Company
Forum Host
Bringing the